SECTOR UPDATE : PLANTATION (NEUTRAL): CPO price incorrection mode We believe a correction in CPO price has begun and productionin the months ahead will be stronger. A subsequent price lull should take placeas early strong demand is matched by ample supply. We may need to upgrade ourCPO price assumption in the months ahead. Sector outperformers have beenlargely smaller growth stocks while larger stocks which are sector proxy havebeen flat. We believe this will continue to be the case until CPO pricecorrection is over hence quality growth stocks should continue to be bought.Maintain Neutral on sector.

Key index marginally higher. FBM KLCI rose 1.85 pts to1,603.12 as market sentiments improved. Gainers led losers by 400 to 325 while355 counters were unchanged. Among the key market news over the weekendinclude, Tabung Haji to invest RM975m in UK property, Eversendai appointedsub-contractor for Jeddah project to erect structural steel works worth RM158m,sources said Balfour Beatty Plc. may buy Ingress stake in BBRail, Tan Sri LingChiong Ho is understood to plan a major move into Wijaya Baru Global to securethe latter's landbank in Indonesia and Genting Plantations proposed a JV to developand cultivate 74,000ha of palm oil plantation in Indonesia. Last Friday, Wall Streetsentiment also was damped by rising concerns across the Atlantic that Spain andItaly may be the next to succumb to the eurozone debt crisis. With the DJIAdiving 136.99 pts to finish at 12,849.59, investors may stay at the sidelinespending any fresh leads.  

US stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 to its first back-to-back weeklydecline since Nov, after employers added fewer jobs than estimated and investorconcern over global economic growth intensified. The S&P 500 dropped 2% to1,370.26 over the week and 1.2% last Friday. The decline came even as the benchmarkindex for American equities had its best two-day gain of the year on 11 and 12Apr, sparked by optimism about earnings and signals from the Federal Reservethat interest rates will remain low. The Dow lost 210.55 pts, or 1.6% over theweek and 1.1% last Friday, to 12,849.59. (Bloomberg)

Industrialist Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary and Sunway Bhdhave submitted a proposal for a prime piece of real estate controlled by KelabGold Negara Subang (KGNS), which includes two 18-hole golf courses with a commercialvalue estimated at over RM5bn. The yet-to-be-publicised privatization plan forthe KGNS land is surely to stir public debate and will represent a new twist inthe ownership struggle for this lucrative piece of real estate located on theleafy fringes of Kelana Jaya in Selangor.(Financial Daily)

Telekom Malaysia (TM) aims to expand its UniFi high-speedfibre-optic broadband coverage to 1.3m premise passes by year-end in an effortto provide better services to customers. Currently, the telecommunication gianthas 1.2m premise passes and 320,000 customers nationwide. Chief executiveofficer Datuk Zamzamzairani  Mohd Isasaid among the efforts put in place, aside from expanding UniFi's networkcoverage, was the transformation of its frontline touch point, call centres andalso technicians. (Malaysian Reserve)

MBM Resources Bhd, which aims to become a prominentautomaker within the next three to five years, has approached a localdistributor of a China carmaker for a possible substantial stake. An industryobserver hinted that MBM may be a potential investor in financing the expansionplan of the local distributor's assembly plant to manufacture vehicles for thedomestic and rofeign markets. (Malaysian Reserve)

The Affin Bank group has boosted its Tier 1 and Tier 2capital by RM500m in the first quarter of the year, and further capitalinjection, in view of Basel 3 requirements, is in the pipeline. The bankinggroup's asset base has doubled to RM50bn in six years. Likewise, its capitalbase has also gone up by RM2.3bn to RM4bn, with RM3.3bn or about 83%representing the core or Tier 1 capital. (BT)

Malaysian financial institutions have been invited toexplore expansion opportunities in Pakistan, particularly in Islamic banking.Pakistan's high commissioner to Malaysia, Masood Khalid said that he expectsBank Negara Governor, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz to have a discussion on howMalaysia financial institutions could expand their operations to Pakistan, whenshe meets with the governor of State Bank of Pakistan, Yaseen Anwar, in the nearfuture. (StarBiz)

Source: OSK188